The study of memorials cuts across several academic specialisms, and monuments themselves are generally not found in university or museum collections. They are spread across the country in churches, cemeteries, streets, on hilltops or in other fairly public places. Given their size, their sometimes intimate relationship with buried human remains, and the significance of their location and orientation, this could not be otherwise. Whether tucked behind parish flower arrangements or standing outside in the rain, they act as an expression of grief and a repository of individual and collective memory. Study, recording, publication and publicity can make their messages more accessible, and help to encourage their preservation; but memorials are three-dimensional objects located in a social and geographical context. There is no substitute for seeing them in the flesh and visiting them is always something of an adventure.

This book grew out of a database formally started in 1978 with the encouragement of the deputy director of the National Maritime Museum (NMM), David Waters (1911–2012). Probably inspired by an article by Rupert Gunnis entitled ‘History in Marble’, published in the August 1955 edition of Country Life, the initial objectives were to record important maritime-related sculpture held outside the Museum's collections. However, it soon became apparent that memorials provided much information of historical and cultural importance, potential source material for the maritime historian. The early stages of the project were implemented by Timothy Wilson, later Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum, and Bridget Clifford, who went on to become Keeper of Collections at the Royal Armouries. I took it over from them, and that is where the genesis of this book starts. Many entries have since been sent in by NADFAS (National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies) volunteers and by members of the public. It was always intended that the records should be digitized at some future date. The later advent of the internet coincided with a burgeoning enthusiasm for family history, in which memorials are key sources. With this market in mind, the database was put online in 2002.

The Museum index includes memorials to British people who made their living through seafaring or related occupations such as shipbuilding, and to those passengers who lost their lives in maritime disasters.